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It's all part of our Entitlment Society

We want the government to keep us from smoking.

It is our 'right' to have our education provided, our medical needs taken care of,
all scientific resaerch funded and now also to keep us from engaging in bad habits. In such a utopia we don't need parents or self restaraint we have big brother to provide our every need and make all our decisions.

Re: Cigarette company openly soliciting political action.

Originally Posted by big easy

this is the "mob rule" mentality that concerns me about the left... you totally ignore the Constitution....tobacco is a legal product... I don't see how anybody can justify in Constitutional terms the excessive taxation geared towards steering behaviour... everyone knows the health risks..even 12 year olds... many times they've walked up to me and ask me why I'm doing something that's bad... individuals are free to make their own choices and it is not advertising that is to blame...it's bad choices made by individuals...that's the thing about the left..they never hold indviduals accountable.. it's always the "evil rich" influencing them to do wrong things....it's so much more "sheik" to blame wealthy corporations than an indvividual...

it's the "if it feels good do it" mentality that sets us up for more of the same in incremental fashion step by step....next it will be more taxes on rib eye steaks and burger king fast food to curb obesity and cholesteral.. smoking is bad, it stinks therefore it's an easy target politically....but yall's suggestion is bad policy and does injustice to what the Founding Fathers intended...

Hey bigeasy, it doesn't much matter whether or not tobacco is a "legal" product..........we regulate, tax and restrict many, many other such "legal "products for the good of all. It's one of the benefits of living in a civilized society........with the emphasis on SOCIETY. As in collective group of people banding together for the general betterment of all. Why should babies and children have to injest all the hundreds of toxic poisons and chemicals in tobacco smoke? Why should I? Feel free to smoke all you want in your own house- just don't expect the rest of society to to content to be your ashtray.

Originally Posted by justkathy

We want the government to keep us from smoking.

It is our 'right' to have our education provided, our medical needs taken care of,
all scientific resaerch funded and now also to keep us from engaging in bad habits. In such a utopia we don't need parents or self restaraint we have big brother to provide our every need and make all our decisions.

Feel free to engage in any bad habit you'd like to....within the law, of course. Just don't expect the rest of us to accomodate you. Why should my lungs be poisoned in public places just because you can't find the strength to overcome your addiction? Isn't that what you guys always are so proud of? That we should all be pillars of individual strength, only responsible to ourselves and beholden to no wishy-washy concepts of actually looking out for one another? Huh?

Re: Cigarette company openly soliciting political action.

2nd hand smoke is junk science just like global warming... I'm not disagreeing about taxes totally reines..just the amount...do you realize that tobacco taxes have exceeded 100% of the price?.... what right to you think you have to pick MY pocket to that degree?... it is DISGUSTING and PARASITIC... and serves NO useful purpose other than self gratification for those who are obsessed in feeling better about themselves.... SOCIETY my ASS./.... what a crock....I need to go smoke now...hopefully tomorrow I'll make strides towards quitting...until then get out of my pocket and go feed a stray animal and make a difference in your neighborhood instead trying to save the world...

Re: Cigarette company openly soliciting political action.

Originally Posted by big easy

2nd hand smoke is junk science just like global warming... I'm not disagreeing about taxes totally reines..just the amount...do you realize that tobacco taxes have exceeded 100% of the price?.... what right to you think you have to pick MY pocket to that degree?... it is DISGUSTING and PARASITIC... and serves NO useful purpose other than self gratification for those who are obsessed in feeling better about themselves.... SOCIETY my ASS./.... what a crock....I need to go smoke now...hopefully tomorrow I'll make strides towards quitting...until then get out of my pocket and go feed a stray animal and make a difference in your neighborhood instead trying to save the world...

Are you seriously claiming that all the studies that prove how damaging second hand smoke is are "junk"? C-mon bigeasy, that's just delusional! Even the CDC has come out and said that children who are exposed to second hand smoke are much more likely to become smokers.
I think it's terrible that taxes on cigarettes are so high- and if I smoked, I'd certainly QUIT rather than pay them. Doesn't it make you mad that cigarette companies deliberately spike the levels of nicotine so that you get even more addicted...and then hike up the prices because you ARE addicted and will pay any price? Don't blame the high cost of cigarettes on just taxes. And I'm not "picking your pocket"...on the contrary, I'd be thrilled if you (and all the other smokers) just quit tommorrow and never, ever had to pay for a product that's going to kill you ever again.
Have you tried the new drug they have? (Can't remember the name)- I understand it works for a lot of people. But nothing works really until you really want to quit.
I hope you DO find a way to quit bigeasy- for you and for your family. I watched my father die slowly from emphysema- definitely not the way you want to go. And with all the money you'd then save...you could contribute fully to Warren Buffet's favorite charities! LOL

Re: Cigarette company openly soliciting political action.

The only ones questioning these studies are those who don't want to have their toxic habit curtailed. "Tyranny", indeed! Funny how everything that doesn't line up with one's wishes can just be called "bogus science".
Gee, we don't allow people to buy their very own nuclear weapons, do we? Wow- isn't that "tyranny"? I mean, gosh, all of us who would prefer to avoid possible nuclear meltdown can just..........move elsewhere, right?
A society has the perfect right to regulate and control things that are deemed to be potentially dangerous. We accept this for drugs, alcohol, and other chemicals.....yet for something like tobacco smoke, which has over 4,000 toxic chemicals in it, we're not supposed to?
Right.

Re: Cigarette company openly soliciting political action.

this is a discussion about taxation not regulation.. if they want to regulate it in regards to making it against the law to sell to minors, putting the warning labels and keeping people from smoking in certain indoor areas, that's cool... studying the harmful effects and what have you fine...

cigarettes are taxed to death..the taxes are increasing the costs..not the tobacco companies.... and when you support draconian taxation you ARE tipping into the pockets of smokers and it serves no useful purpose for society.. there's no moral or logical reason for it other than just hating cigarettes and wanting to punish those who smoke...period...nuclear weapons?...gimme a break

It's not wonder that townhall would post an article opposing studies that the EPA did. Townhall, like many other politically driven forums, has an agenda.

Anyone (not you in particular) who thinks that second hand smoke is healthy or causes no other risks to, especially to those with existing respiratory problems or those who may be just be in the way of a smoke filled room, etc.....are misguided, IMHO.

It is a health issue for many and not relagated to a simple arguement of polical correctness.